Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1265351
JULY 2020 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 89 • More offshore companies trying to come into the U.S. Even before the pandemic, companies from both Asia and Europe were trying to establish a beachhead in the U.S. by buying an existing PCB or PCBA shop. Look for more of that happening in the next few years. • More American factories with more effi- ciencies (think GreenSource Fabrication, where less than 25 people produce over $40 million of high-tech PCBs). In the next few years, companies and factories of the future will start sprouting up all over the U.S. that are ecologically pure, engineering sound, and able to build any type of PCB in hours and days rather than weeks and months—all with most of the staff working remotely. The time for this concept has come. And, of course, communications for work- ing apart will emerge—more efficient ways for people living miles apart to come together on projects. This means vast technological improvements in online communications, including virtual meetings, sales conferences, job fairs, trade shows, webinars, and sales calls—not to mention a huge increase in vir- tual campuses and classrooms. And when you consider all of these changes, you come to the conclusion that we are just getting started. Once we start exploring the possibilities, we will discover all sorts of new and exciting ways to do things better than we have ever done them before. Using all of these tools provides strong, clear avenues of communications and the opportunity for a global network of innova- tors to come together in a more inclusive and comprehensive way than ever before. Global projects will become the norm as great minds from all corners of the globe come together to create, innovate, and develop fantastic prod- ucts of the future more quickly than ever before. But one drawback will be the threat of cyber- attacks. Cybersecurity will be more imperative than ever. As we become more connected, the need for more security will be more important than ever. Look for that industry to grow very rapidly in the next few months or years. Finally—and probably the most obvious at this time—is that we will see a trusted global network of medical people and researchers come together to create a system for early dis- covery and containment of new viruses. Keep lines of communication open and share knowl- edge and research so that we work together to subdue these deadly enemies that can threaten our survival in the future. I feel that we should look at emerging from these times with a great deal of optimism. We are already "connecting the dots," using every- thing we have developed so far and all of the technology we have developed over the past decade to help us survive these hard times. Think about it. What would we do without the internet or cellphones right now? Where would we be without social media, and who would have thought it would be so important? These are all technology tools that have enabled us to handle these hard times better than any other time in history. Also, 5G heading to 6G will provide us with greater bandwidth to handle many more connected devices. It will be the underpin- ning that supports the connectivity we have been talking about. A year from now, we will be saying, "Thank goodness that 5G came along just when we needed it. I cannot wait for 6G!" SMT007 Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group. As we become more connected, the need for more security will be more important than ever.